DemetriMartin

On last night's 'Important Things with Demetri Martin' (Thu., 12:30AM ET on COM), the comedian used a, shall we say, unconventional method to procure the all-important armrest at the movies.

When the guy sitting next to won't relinquish the space, Demetri Martin pulls out a finger puppet, delicately adding tiny tennis shoes. The puppet wins out, with no verbal confrontation between the two men. In fact, no words are exchanged throughout the entire scene. How very kind and considerate of Martin toward his fellow movie fans.

Demetri Martin has some really interesting theories about money. For instance, did you know that if a person uses the term "moola," that means they have a little bit of money? We didn't either, but it makes perfect sense.

On the other hand, if they use the term "assets," that means they have a lot of money. Again, we're onboard with this theory. We didn't realize, though, that if you call money "napkins," that means something very special.

Here's hoping Matt Damon has some space on his DVR, because it looks like he'll need it this February. No, not for the announcement of the Oscar nominations, but for something far more important: the return of Sarah Silverman.

Yes, according to TV Guide, Comedy Central has finally scheduled the third season premiere for 'The Sarah Silverman Program,' which will return to the airwaves on February 4 in the 10:30PM time slot. Silverman, who, of course, famously boasted of a (fictional) relationship with Damon on 'Jimmy Kimmel Show!,' has been off the air for well over a year while the network sorted out details of the show's return.

Comedy Central has announced that The Sarah Silverman Program will begin its third season and Important Things with Demetri Martin will begin its second season this coming February. It looks like Sarah Silverman's show made it despite the budget cuts.

Silverman's show was hilarious in its first season. The second season wasn't quite as good. The entire concept around her character gets grating over time (I find the same is true of her stand-up). The conclusion is that Sarah Silverman is best in small doses. Having a character that is so self-absorbed and unrecognizing of her own mistakes only works for characters like Master Shake. Of course if she actually learned a lesson, then the show would be over.

Having not seen any episodes of Demetri Martin's show, I cannot comment. I did enjoy his appearance on Flight of the Conchords (I still hum "Doggy Bounce" sometimes). How do you feel about the return of these shows?

Important Things was the perfect vehicle for Martin, showcasing his absurdist deadpan, allowing him to work with some talented friends like John Oliver, Jon Benjamin, David Cross, and Amanda Peet, and even letting him play a musical number or two.

Since programming anything new is probably a waste on a holiday weekend, Comedy Central is programming roughly 4,000 previously aired stand-up specials (okay, just 40, but that's a lot) from some of the biggest names on its rosters, including Dane Cook, Jeff Dunham, Katt Williams, Louis C.K., Lewis Black, Brian Regan, Demetri Martin, Ron White, Lisa Lampanelli, and Jim Gaffigan. They'll also sprinkle in some of their Comedy Central Presents half-hour showcases. It's called the Stand-Up Blowout Weekend.

The first special is at 3 PM - Aisha Tyler is Lit: Live at the Fillmore and end, officially, with Drew Hastings: Irked and Miffed at 3 AM Monday morning. Sunday at 10PM is the network premiere of Dave Attell: Captain Miserable, which originally aired on HBO on December 8, 2007.

If you've been watching Comedy Central, you may have noticed one of the roughly several thousand ads for the new show, Important Things with Demetri Martin. We also gave you a glimpse of it last week. All the hype can sometimes be a sign of a show in need of propping up. Not so with Important Things. I got a hold of two episodes in advance, and the show is worth watching, or DVRing, if you're one of those people who sometimes leaves the house. The show premieres February 11 at 10:30 PM.

Martin is a talented comedian whose act is built around offbeat one-liners (in the tradition of Steven Wright and, later, Mitch Hedberg). But he's also an artist and musician, incorporating his drawings (through and easel onstage) and songwriting into his stage act. Important Things is a great extension of that, allowing Martin to animate some of his drawings or pay attention to details that couldn't be seen onstage (like a view of the letter "R" from behind that shows its tiny "R" butt), in addition to musical pieces and sketch comedy.

"Bushman of Africa": President Bush recently paid a visit to five countries throughout Africa. He shared his learnings and experiences through a slideshow, keeping it real old-school. Due to his initiatives on malaria, there will be a George W. Bush Day to raise awareness. Was that a joke, Mr. President? I'll pretend it was.

Correspondent John Oliver stopped by to talk about this strange, new caring Bush and expressed his pain in seeing that Bush had it in him to do good all along. Whenever people bash The Daily Show (or the Colbert Report) for being really unfair to Bush, I like to point them to segments like this. Sure, they have a bit of a liberal bias, but they're not afraid to point out the blunders of the Democrats, nor do they shy away from recognizing when Republicans or conservatives have done well. Seriously, these two shows are probably more fair that many mainstream news outlets. Bless their snarky little hearts.

"Clusterf@#k to the White House": Maria Shriver and some of the potential first ladies got together and basked in each other's powerful-by-association womanliness. Fact: Within five minutes of meeting each other, their views on universal healthcare synchronized... That was bad, I'm sorry. I tried. Another fact: Jon Stewart's Shriver impression sounds more like Arnold Schwarzenegger than his Arnold impression. It was while watching this segment when I realized who Henry Waxman looks like. That tiny little man at the end of The Triplets of Belleville. You know, the mousy mechanic/operator fellow? Yeah? No? Okay. Look it up.

Just a day after announcing that they were going to renew both Mind of Mencia and Lil' Bush, Comedy Central has announced that they have picked up a new comedy/variety show from comedian Demetri Martin.

The show will be produced by Jon Stewart and his Busboy Productions. Martin has been a regular contributor to The Daily Show. He also had two Comedy Central specials: one in 2004 as part of Comedy Central Presents and another this past January, Demetri Martin: Person, and a new comedy album These Are Jokes.

I've been waiting for this. Martin happens to be one of the funniest people on the planet. I think his style of humor lends itself perfectly to a weekly sketch show.. I'm sure he'll thrown in animation and observations too. After the jump, a couple of videos from Martin's work on The Daily Show and one of his specials.

The song, like all of Fountain of Wayne's songs, is really catchy and you'll probably find yourself singing it in the shower. Or, if you're like me, you'll actually learn how to play it on guitar so you can both sing and play it in the shower. This actually warps the guitar pretty bad, which is why I break into a music warehouse every night and steal a new one.

The Boston Phoenix makes an interesting suggestion on one of their blogs: maybe NBC should give the Late Night slot to Demetri Martin in 2009 when Conan O'Brien takes over for Jay Leno. Hmmm...

In this Daily Show clip, Martin explains the whole copyright controversy involving Viacom, Google, and YouTube. It's a great clip, with Martin asking at one point if viewers are watching him right now on YouTube (yes, it's a YouTube clip). He even freezes his body and says "buffering." Funny stuff. Both videos after the jump (YouTube version and Comedy Central's, just in case...)

Okay, so Condoleezza Rice went to Rome for a meeting about the Lebanon situation. It didn't go so well. Jon showed a Condimeter graphic to illustrate just how bad it was (TDS has been really graphic-happy lately). Of course, the meeting wasn't as great as "Three days alone at Camp David with the President" or "Christmas morning"... It ended up somewhere between "Kofi Annan cops a feel" and "Bin Laden determined to attack WHERE?!". I have a feeling I may have switched up a few of those details, so apologies ahead of time. I swear TDS knows I'm scrambling to type this all down. They probably have a hidden camera on my monitor, broadcasting live right into Jon's office so that they can giggle at my panic.

When it was announced that Microsoft signed on The Daily Show contributor Demetri Martin for some ads, many accused the company of trying to copy the success of the new Mac ads featuring Martin's fellow TDS contributor, John Hodgman. Well, in actuality, Microsoft has utilized the talents of several TDS correspondents for quite a while now. Samantha Bee, Rob Corddry, and Ed Helms have already done various video segments and appearances for Microsoft.